World’s top 16 clash in On Cue today

Sixteen of the world’s top billiards players will provide the needed prestige for ABS-CBN’s On Cue 3: Continental Conquest which starts today at the Galleria Trade Hall, fourth level of the Robinson’s Galleria.

The event, also made possible by Puyat Sports, is actually the third major billiards event after the RP vs Europe Challenge staged as part of ABS-CBN’s 50th anniversary and the Battle of Champions (RP vs Europe II) last year.

The three-day affair showcases four of the country’s top caliber cue artists — Efren "Bata" Reyes, Francisco "Django" Bustamante, Warren Kiamco and Lee Van Corteza — as they spearhead the Philippines’ quest for the crown against the best from North America, Europe and Asia.

ABS-CBN top honcho Gabby Lopez has put up a total cash purse close to $50,000. The champion gets the top prize of $20,000 cash with $10,000 going to the runner-up. Third and fourth placers will receive $5,000 each while $2,000 each goes to the fifth to eighth placers.

"We’ve gathered only the world’s best billiard players in bringing to the Filipinos the biggest sports spectacle they shouldn’t miss," said ABS-CBN VP for Sports Peter Musngi.

Competition starts at 10 a.m. After the ceremonial lag, the two protagonists of the 2004 World Pool Championship — champion Alex Pagulayan and Chang Pei-Wei of Chinese Taipei — will open hostilities at 10:20 a.m. while Bata plunges against Sweden’s Marcus Chamat before noon.

The two matches will be telecast live on Studio 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Much of the country’s hopes are pinned on Reyes and Bustamante. Reyes is considered the greatest billiard player in the world who’s best remembered for his title feat in the 1999 World Pool Championship in Cardiff Wales while Bustamante, who bagged the 2003 Internatonal Challenge of Champions crown, is currently ranked No. 2 in the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA).

Kiamco made his mark as the two-time runner-up of the Asian 9-Ball Tour while Corteza, the Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, recently reaped accolades for clinching the Manila leg of the 2004 Asian 9-Ball Tour where he defeated both Reyes and Bustamante.

Pagulayan, the reigning World Pool Championship plum, is ranked No. 6 in the WPA and will still play for Canada as he represents the North American Team together with USA’s Rodney Morris — the 2003 World Pool League Champion.

Europe will be bannered by four equally impressive cue artists — 2003 US Open champion and current WPA No. 1 Ralf Souqet of Germany, 2001 World Pool champion and WPA No. 5 Mika Immomen of Finland, 2003 World Pool champion Thorsten Hohmann also of Germany and WPA No. 7 Marcus Chamat of Sweden, a semifinalist in the 2004 Taiwan World Pool Championship.

Leading the six-man team from the Asian region is Chinese Taipei’s best bet Chao Fong-Pang, the 2000 World Pool champion who’s tagged as Efren Reyes’ main rival for pool supremacy in Asia.

Another Asian figure, Chang Pei-Wei, the surprise World Pool runner-up, aims to redeem himself as he eyes revenge on Pagulayan.

Chinese Taipei is also fielding its Asian Games gold medalist Yang Ching-Shun, currently WPA No. 11 and its 15-year-old billiard sensation Wu Chia Ching who’s expected to draw the fancy of the crowd.

Completing the cast are 2000 Japan Open champion Satoshi Kawabata and 1998 World Pool champion Kunihiko Takahashi.

The 16 players will battle each other in a double-round, race-to-9 elimination with the top four advancing into the race-to-11 crossover semifinals. The finals is a race-to-13 affair.

Tickets are available at the Robinson’s Galleria: P350 for VIP seats and P200 for bleacher seats on Aug. 29 and 30; and P500 for VIP and P300 for bleacher seats in the semifinals and finals set on Aug. 31.